Governor Strickland appointee to ODOT director James Beasley indicated that "ODOT needs to embrace a multi-modal, economically driven project selection process that serves all of Ohio. This process needs to realize that land-use patterns are a direct result of the transportation system serving them. Planning and decision making should be weighted toward containing urban sprawl."

Perhaps no other project selection process affects land-use patterns and multi-modal priorities more than The Transportation Review Advisory Council (TRAC). A projected $1.2 billion budget shortfall should help TRAC focus on linking transportation investments with Strickland's economic development plans.

TRAC was created by the Ohio General Assembly in 1997 to bring a ranking system to choosing major new transportation projects.

The TRAC is composed of the director of ODOT and eight appointees chosen for experience in transportation, business or economic development. The governor names six members; the president of the Ohio Senate names one and the speaker of the Ohio House names one. The TRAC has been set up to determine which projects considered to be Major New Capacity are to be funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). For more information, please visit the ODOT TRAC web site.

Local and county road projects are not funded by the TRAC. ODOT has programs for safety projects, transportation enhancements, local roads, and city and county bridges. New highway building happens as a result of TRAC and the priorities of local transportation planning agencies such as NOACA. For example, for a proposed interchange at I-90 and Nagle Road in Avon, NOACA would need to look at whether the interchange meets the following criteria:

a. increases mobility
b. provides connectivity
c. increases the accessibility of a region for economic development
d. increase the capacity of a transportation facility, or
e. reduces congestion

These last two account for 40 out of a possible 130 points in the TRAC scoring system (pdf), whereas multi-modal (bikes, pedestrians, transit) and urban revitalization aspects are awarded 5 and 10 points, respectively. In addition, cost effectiveness—the number of jobs created—earns five points.

TRAC appears to place road capacity ahead of economic development. Here are a few ideas to consider in reforming TRAC to promote more smart growth.

• TRAC should accord equal weight to helping existing communities grow and prosper as it does to favoring capacity or widening the pipeline to handle more vehicles.
• Should Gov. Strickland’s appointees review the point totals by category to align TRAC with the administration’s economic development agenda?
• Also, an analysis of ODOT’s $2.1 billion budget is needed to determine what percentage pays for TRAC and what is being invested in local roads and transportation enhancements.